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There are two main divisions in the history of the dynasty. The Western Jin (266–316) was established as a successor state to Cao Wei after Sima Yan usurped the throne, and had its capital at Luoyang or Chang'an (modern Xi'an); Western Jin reunited China in 280, but fairly shortly thereafter fell into a succession crisis, civil war, and invasion by the "Five Barbarians (Wu Hu)." The rebels and invaders began to establish new self-proclaimed states in the Yellow River valley in 304, inaugurating the "Sixteen Kingdoms" era. These states immediately began fighting each other and the Jin Empire, leading to the second division of the dynasty, the Eastern Jin (317–420) when Sima Rui moved the capital to Jiankang (modern Nanjing). The Eastern Jin dynasty was eventually overthrown by the Liu Song.

Molded-brick mural, identified as the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove and Rong Qiqi", one of two walls apart of the coffin found in a tomb of the capital region of the Southern dynasties (5th-6th. c.), second half of the fifth century, at Xishanqiao, near Nanjing. 88 x 240 cm. Nanjing Museum. This part of the murals may reflect a composition of the famous Lu Tanwei, considered as the single greatest painter of all times by the Chinese critic Xi He (act. 500-536) : ref. from China : Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 AD, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Press 2004. We can recognize Ji Kang (223-262), on the left, under a gingko tree.

The Jin dynasty was founded in AD 266 by Sima Yan, posthumously known as Emperor Wu (the "Martial Emperor of Jin"). He forced Cao Huan's abdication but permitted him to live in honor as the Prince of Chenliu and buried him with imperial ceremony. The Jin dynasty conquered the Eastern Wu in 280, and united the country. The period of unity was short-lived as the state was soon weakened by corruption, political turmoil, and internal conflicts. Sima Yan's son Zhong, posthumously known as Emperor Hui (the "Benevolent Emperor of Jin"), was developmentally disabled.

The remnants of the Jin court fled to the east, reestablishing their government at Jiankang within present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu. Sima Rui, the prince of Langya (琅琊), was enthroned in 318, posthumously becoming known as Emperor Yuan (the "First Emperor of the Eastern Jin").[3] The rival northern states, who denied the legitimacy of his succession, sometimes referred to his state as "Langya".

At first, the southerners were resistant to the new ruler from the north. The circumstances obliged the Emperors of Eastern Jin to depend on both local and refugee gentry clans, the latter convinced the former of the emperor enjoying high prestige by showing superficial respect to Rui, which was also the pinnacle of menfa politics (門閥政治), Several immigrated gentry clans were very active and they grasped the national affairs: Wang (王) clans from Langya and Taiyuan, Xie (謝) clan from Chenliu (陳留), Huan (桓) clan from Qiao Commandery (譙郡) and Yu (庾) clan from Yingchuan (潁川). The Emperors of Eastern Jin had limited power. There was a prevalent remark that "王與（司）馬，共天下 (Wang Dao and the emperor Sima Rui, they dominate the nation together)" among the people.[4] It is said that when Emperor Yuan was holding court, he even invited Dao to sit by himself accepting jointly the congratulations from ministers, but Dao declined it.[5]

The local gentry clans were at odds with the immigrated. As such tensions increased, they loomed larger in Jin's domestic politics. Two biggest ones of local clans: Zhou (周) clan from Yixing (義興) and Shen (沈) clan from Wuxing (吳興)'s ruin was a bitter blow from which they never quite recovered. Moreover, there was a conflict among the immigrated clans' interests, it was a faction led to a virtual balance somewhat benefited the emperor's ruling.

Although there was a stated goal of recovering the "lost northern lands", paranoia within the royal family and a constant string of disruptions to the throne caused the loss of support among many officials. Military crises—including the rebellions of the generals Wang Dun and Su Jun but also lesser fangzhen (方鎮, "military county") revolts—plagued the Eastern Jin throughout its 104 years of existence.

Special "commanderies of immigrants" and "white registers" were created for the massive amount of northern origin Han Chinese who moved south during the Eastern Jin dynasty.[6] The southern Chinese aristocracy was formed from the offspring these migrants.[7]Celestial Masters and the nobility of northern China subdued the nobility of southern China during the Eastern Jin and Western Jin in Jiangnan in particular.[8] The most populous region of China was southern China after the depopulation of the north and the migration of northern Chinese to southern China.[9][10] Different waves of migration of aristocratic Chinese from northern China to the south at different times resulted in distinct groups of lineages, with some lineages arriving in the 300s-400s and others in the 800s-900s.[11]

Later, Huan Xuan, Huan Wen's son, usurped the throne and changed the dynasty's name to Chu. He, in turn, was toppled by Liu Yu, who reinstated Sima Dezong, posthumously known as Emperor An (the "Peaceful Emperor of Jin"). Meanwhile, as civilian administration suffered, there were further revolts led by Sun En and Lu Xun; Western Shu became an independent kingdom under Qiao Zong. Liu Yu had Sima Dezong strangled and replaced by his brother Sima Dewen, posthumously known as Emperor Gong (the "Respectful Emperor of Jin"), in 419. Sima Dewen abdicated in 420 in favor of Liu Yu, who declared himself the ruler of the Song; he was asphyxiated with a blanket the following year. In the north, Northern Liang, the last of the Sixteen Kingdoms, was conquered by the Northern Wei in 439, ushering in the Northern dynasties period.

The uprising of the five barbarians led to one northerner in eight immigrated to the south. These immigrants were called "qiaoren (僑人, literally the lodged people)" accounting for one sixth the then people lived in the south. Considering most property of these refugees had been lost or exhausted as they arrived, they were privileged to be free from diao (調), a special poll tax was paid via the silken or cotton cloth etc. in the ancient China, and service. Their registers which bound in white papers were called baiji (白籍) in Chinese. The ordinary ones which bound in yellow papers were called huangji (黃籍) in comparison.

Since situation settled down, the preferential treatment not only was the heavy burden for the nation, but also aroused dissatisfaction from the natives. Hence, tu duan was an increasingly important issue for the Eastern Jin.

The Eastern Jin court established the lodged administrative divisions in where were strongholds of qiaoren. More effective in administration for them was a realistic starting point for that. Consisting of three levels: qiaozhou (僑州, the lodged province), qiaojun (僑郡, the lodged commandery) and qiaoxian (僑縣, the lodged county), these lodged administrative divisions were merely nominal without possessing actual domain, or rather, they were local government in exile, what could scarcely be denied was their significance of Jin's legitimacy for the north territory as somewhat an announcement. Furthermore, it was also an action to appease refugees' homesickness or home town complex, evoking their desire to resume the lost.

During the Emperor Yuan, Emperor Ming and Emperor Cheng period, the lodged administrative divisions were concentrated in the area south of the Huai River and the Lower Yangtze Plain. At first there was the lodged Langya Commandery within lodged Fei County in Jiankang, but when it began was not exact. Then the lodged Huaide County was also established in Jiankang, around 320. According to the Book of Song:

晉永嘉大亂，幽、冀、青、並、兗州及徐州之淮北流民，相率過淮，亦有過江在晉陵郡界者……又徙流民之在淮南者于晉陵諸縣，其徙過江南及留在江北者，並立僑郡縣以司牧之。徐、兗二州或治江北，江北又僑立幽、冀、青、並四州……(After Disaster of Yongjia, the refugees from You, Ji, Qing, Bing, Yan and Xu provinces came across the Huai River, some even came across the Yangtze River and stayed in Jinling Commandery... The lodged administrative divisions were established to govern them. The seats of Xu and Yan provinces perhaps were moved to the area north of the Yangtze River, where the lodged You, Ji, Qing, Bing provinces were established.)[13]

The lodged Pei, Qinghe, Xiapi, Dongguang, Pingchang, Jiyin, Puyang, Guangping, Taishan, Jiyang, Lu commanderies were stablished when Emperor Ming ruled. The rebellions and invasions occurred in Jianghuai area led to more refugees switched to settle in the south of the Yangtze River, where the lodged Huainan Commandery was established afterwards.

However, carrying out was more complex than the policy was formulated. Several actual counties were under the jurisdiction of the lodged commanderies.

A few lodged administrative divisions are still retained in China nowadays. For instance, Dangtu County was originally located in the area of Bengbu, however the lodged Dangtu County was established in where it is now, and the latter replaced the former, inheriting its place name.

The tu duan (土斷) is the abbreviation for yi tu duan (以土斷, means classifying people according to their present habitation to register). It was a policy to ensure the ancient hukou system working since the Western Jin. These terms were firstly recorded in the biographies of Wei Guan and Li Chong included in the Book of Jin:

The Jin dynasty is well known for the quality of its greenish celadon porcelain wares, which immediately followed the development of proto-celadon. Jar designs often incorporated animal, as well as Buddhist, figures.[16]

Taoism was polarized in the Jin dynasty. The Jin emperors repressed Taoists harshly, but also tried to exploit it, given the way it had been used near the end of the Han era in the poor peasants' revolts. Amidst the political turmoil of the era, many successful merchants, small landowners, and other moderately comfortable persons found great solace in Taoist teachings and a number of major clans and military officers also took up the faith. Ge Hong emphasized loyalty to the emperor as a Taoist virtue; he even taught that rebels could never be Taoist immortals,[18] which made Taoism more palatable to the imperial hierarchy. As a result, popular Taoist religions were considered heterodoxy while the official schools of the court were supported, but the popular schools like Tianshi Taoism were still secretly held dear and promulgated amongst ordinary people.